In adulthood, they did not suffer from ulcers, heart attacks, tuberculosis, and many of the maladies caused by the stress, and strain, of the modern daily grind.
Ulcers and heart attacks leave no skeletal record, so it's hard to say. Also, diseases were often not diagnosed or misdiagnosed at that time.
Tuberculosis? It sometimes does leave marks on skeletons. And it ws present in the New World before Columbus.
Stress? They had their sources, too. Just different. How about worrying about what to do if those sickly corn plants bear no kernels?
Once the white man arrived, they carried many diseases the the Indians had never encountered, and had absolutely no immunity against, which in some cases, wiped out entire tribes.
That may have worked both ways, although Europe got the better deal. The origin of syphilis is still disputed, but it may have been an import from the New World.
Some of the herbal medications used by the Indians, are now being accepted by the modern medical world as being effective.
True. Many modern medicines were known to the pre-modern world. |
